The present invention relates to thermally reactive hyperbranched ether-ketone-imide polymers, particularly to those that are chain-end functionalized with phenylethynyl groups.
Dendritic macromolecules such as dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers are a class of highly branched polymers that have distinctly different properties from their linear analogs. Both dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers have much lower solution and melt viscosities than their linear analogs of similar molecular weights. They also have a large number of chain-ends whose collective influence dictates their overall physical and/or chemical behaviors. These features are attractive in terms of processability and offering flexibility in engineering required properties for specific applications. However, there is a practical advantage that hyperbranched polymers have over dendrimers at “raw material” level. Although dendrimers have precisely controlled structures (designated as generations), their preparations generally involve tedious, multi-step sequences that are impractical and costly in scale-up production. Synthesis of a hyperbranched polymer, on the other hand, is a one-pot process. Large quantities of hyperbranched polymers can be easily produced from ABx (x≧2) monomers. In some cases, the desired hyperbranched polymers can also be prepared from the polymerization of appropriate A2 and B3 or A3 and B2 monomers, where all these monomers are commercially available, thus obviating the added cost in the synthesis of AB2 monomers.
Because of it non-entangling nature, hyperbranched polymers generally exhibit significantly lower solution and melt viscosities than their structurally similar linear counterparts. As such, various hyperbranched polymers have been used in lowering the melt viscosity in the processing of thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide thermally reactive, heat-resistant hyperbranched ether-ketone polymers that containing phenylethyl groups that can thermally-induced to self-polymerized to form cross-linked polymers.
It is another object of this invention to provide a chemically compatible formulation of a phenylethynyl-terminated hyperbranched polymer and a phenylethynyl-terminated oligoimide resin that are suitable for resin-transfer molding (RTM) process in the manufacture of high temperature composites. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.